Conventional printing machines have a plate cylinder mounted for rotation in bearings fixed in a frame while an impression cylinder is adjustably mounted at a predetermined distance from the plate cylinder, or the impression cylinder is held in a fixed position on the frame whereas the plate cylinder is arranged at an adjustable distance from the impression cylinder. With the known machines, it is often difficult to exactly adjust the distance between the impression and plate cylinders, and thus to control the pressure applied, for example, to a sheet of paper to be printed passing between the pair of cylinders. A major difficulty arises in measuring and controlling the pressure to be applied to the sheet material to be printed, this being especially true when one of the cylinders or both are not exactly cylindrical in shape and well centered due to wear after extensive use.
An object of this invention is to provide a mounting designed to support a pair of cylinders, which mounting makes it possible to obtain a desired pressure applied to a sheet material passing between the cylinders, and to adjustably control such pressure during the operation of a machine in which the mounting is utilized.
Another object of this invention is to provide a mounting in which the pressure exerted by the pair of cylinders is constantly measured and monitored.
Another object of this invention is to provide a mounting of high performance and accuracy, unexpensive to manufacture and reliable in operation.